SUMMARY
The conflict between the Forces of Abdurahman Ahmed Ali ‘Tur’ and the Republic of Somaliland erupted when the self-proclaimed government tried to centralize control of certain income bringing entities in Somaliland, in this case, the airport in Hargeisa. Even though this incident was the trigger for the armed conflict that broke out in 1994 there were at least two underlying reasons for the outbreak of fighting. For one,‘Tuur’, who had been removed from the position as president of Somaliland in 1993 felt that the new administration, and the structure of the parliament, worked against the interests of his Garhajis clan (Isaaq). Second, there appears to have been a dispute between ‘Tuur’ and the new administration over whether or not Somaliland should stay independent or become a state in a greater republic of Somalia.
Both the Forces of Abdurahman Ahmed Ali ‘Tur’ and the Republic of Somaliland had fighters with experience of the war that had been fought between SNM (Somali National Movement) and the previous Somali regime of Siad Barre, toppled by an in January 1991. The formerly united SNM fighters, who were now divided between national Somaliland army ‘Tuur’’s forces, were well equipped. This resulted in heavy clashes were artillery, heavy and light machine guns, and so-called ‘technicals’, Landcruisers equipped with a heavy machine gun on the back were used.
Over the year that followed the initial outbreak of violence, clashes took place on a regular basis. The incumbent president of Somaliland, Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, who had replaced ‘Tuur’ as Somaliland’s president, was facing the end to his first term in 1995, succeeded where ‘Tuur’ had previously failed and was given an expansion of yet another term in office. In the summer of 1995 members of parliament started to make contacts with elders of the Garhajis clan and this was the start of a number of reconciliation conferences that continued until 1997 when the conflict was finally brought to an end.
The non-state conflict between the Forces of Abdurahman Ahmed Ali ‘Tur’ and the Republic of Somaliland is first included in UCDP data in 1994. In October and November of that year violent clashes flared up in Hargeisa, resulting in over 25 battle-related deaths.
